U.S. application Ser. No. 07/542,911, filed Jun. 25, 1990, Stolzer et al, describes a shelving system in which shelving units have carrier arms secured one above the other on vertical shelving unit supports and extend horizontally transversely of the longitudinal direction of the material. Shelving compartments for the cassettes or pallet boxes or magazines and also for entry into projecting end attachments of the magazines are provided. A shelving service appliance, e.g. a hoist, crane or the like, is displaceable above or laterally of the shelving units transversely of the longitudinal direction of the material. The shelving appliance makes it possible to grasp beneath the carriers of the magazines at the ends and to move the magazines transversely of the shelving gangways and up and down in them. A transport wagon or truck or car is movable beneath the lowermost shelving unit compartments, to shift transversely of the longitudinal direction of the material, with at least two reception places arranged side-by-side for the magazines. At least one transfer and/or utilization station is arranged outside the shelving units in the direction of movement of the transport wagon, car or truck, for placing the material contained in the magazines into and out of store. The station has a first reception plane, corresponding substantially to the level of the transport car, for the exchange of the magazines between the transport car and the station, that is for placing pallet boxes or cassettes into and out of store.
The system described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/542,911, filed Jun. 25, 1990, Stolzer et al, is an improvement over the structure of German Patent 37 08 401. The application describes how the exchange between a magazine to be stored in the shelf-type store on the one hand and a magazine to be brought next in succession out of the shelf-type store, on the other hand, can take place more quickly. For this purpose, as described in said application Ser. No. 07/542,911, the magazines are shifted around on the transport car during its travel between a station for removal from storage and shelf-type store by appropriate means so that at the single meeting point between the transport car and the shelving service appliance it is both possible for the next succeeding magazine to be set down on the transport car and for the returned magazine to be taken off from the transport car in order then to be brought to the place within the shelf-type store from which the magazine to be brought next in succession out of the shelf-type store was taken. This in fact involves a random storage of the magazines which leads to a reduction of the travel times and movements for transport car for the one part and shelf service appliance, e.g. a hoist, crane or the like for the other, necessary for the exchange of magazine to an absolute minimum, with the consequence that both the said apparatus not only cooperate smoothly and harmoniously with one another in the course of the magazine exchange within the travel movements necessary in any case, but also carry out in connection with the magazine exchange only such travel movements as are necessary.
The transfer and/or utilization station for the placing into and out of store or further processing of the material contained in the magazines is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the material beside the shelf-type store so that the magazines are moved from the transport car in the longitudinal direction of the material to this station, for example with the aid of a roller conveyor. If the shelf-type store includes a plurality of blocks lying closely side-by-side in the longitudinal direction of the material, such a station may be available for only one outer shelf unit row, while for the other shelf unit rows, moving the car out of the magazines is possibly only by way of the end sides of the shelf unit rows, which extend transversely of the longitudinal direction of the material.
The system and method described in the referenced application Ser. No. 07/542,911 works well; it has been found in practice, however, that a single transfer location requires relatively more handling time than desirable.